Alignment and conveyance device

Abstract

To provide an alignment transport device that can surely prevent the transport efficiency from declining.SOLUTION: An alignment transport device 1 includes: a rotary disk 10 that has a disk-like bottom wall 11 and is rotatably supported; a first ring 20 that has a first peripheral wall 21 that surrounds the bottom wall 11 and is rotatably supported; a second ring 30 that has a second peripheral wall 31 that surrounds the first peripheral wall 21 and is rotatably supported; driving means that independently rotating drive around each revolving axis of the rotary disk 10, the first ring 20, and the second ring 30; a first transport part 91 and a second transport part 92 respectively provided on the upper parts of the first peripheral wall 21 and the second peripheral wall 31; and furthermore, a dropping mechanism 40 that causes excessive solid preparation that is laminated on solid preparation P that is transported in alignment by the first transport part 91 in a single layer to drop onto the bottom wall 11.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] The present invention relates to an alignment conveying device, and more particularly to an alignment conveying device that conveys solid preparations such as tablets and capsules in an aligned state. [Background technology]

[0002] A known conventional aligning and conveying device is one disclosed in Patent Document 1. As shown in FIG. 5(a), this aligning and conveying device 100 includes a rotary disk 10, a first ring 20, and a second ring 30, each of which is independently rotated in the same direction indicated by the arrow. Solid articles P supplied onto the rotary disk 10 are subjected to centrifugal force and move to the upper part of the peripheral wall of the first ring 20 at a first transfer position P1, are aligned and conveyed by the first ring 20, and then move to the upper part of the peripheral wall of the second ring 30 at a second transfer position P2. The solid articles P aligned and conveyed by the second ring 30 are attracted to the outer peripheral surface of a suction roller 50 and conveyed upward. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0003] [Patent Document 1] Patent No. 6503525 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0004] 5(a), in the conventional aligning and conveying device 100, the solid articles P are normally aligned with no gaps on the upper peripheral walls of the first ring 20 and the second ring 30 and conveyed in a single row and single layer. However, depending on the shape of the solid articles P and the conveying conditions, when a plurality of solid articles P are simultaneously supplied from the rotary disc 10 to the first ring 20 at the first transfer position P1, the solid articles P may be stacked vertically in the first ring 20.

[0005] As shown in Fig. 5(b), the surplus solid preparations P' piled up on top of the solid preparations P aligned in a single layer on the first ring 20 are transported to the second delivery position P2 in an unstable state, and therefore may catch the surrounding solid preparations P when moving to the second ring 30 and fall in a group onto the rotary disc 10. As a result, gaps G may be formed in parts of the row of solid preparations P transported by the second ring 30 due to the influence of the falling, and these gaps G may lead to a decrease in transport efficiency.

[0006] SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide an aligning and conveying device that can reliably prevent a decrease in conveying efficiency. [Means for solving the problem]

[0007] The object of the present invention is to provide a rotating disk having a disk-shaped bottom wall and rotatably supported, a first ring having a first peripheral wall surrounding the bottom wall and rotatably supported, a second ring having a second peripheral wall surrounding the first peripheral wall and rotatably supported, and drive means for independently driving and rotating the rotating disk, the first ring, and the second ring around their respective rotation axes, wherein a first transport section and a second transport section are provided above the first peripheral wall and the second peripheral wall, respectively, and the rotating disk and the first ring are arranged such that the bottom wall is located below the first transport section and the inside of the first ring is The object of the present invention is achieved by an alignment and conveying device in which the rotation axes of the first ring and the second ring are inclined relative to each other so that the solid preparations move from the bottom wall to the first conveying section at the first transfer position while forming a storage space for the solid preparations in the bottom wall, and the rotation axes of the first ring and the second ring are inclined relative to each other so that the solid preparations move from the first conveying section to the second conveying section at the second transfer position while the first conveying section is located lower than the second conveying section, and the alignment and conveying device further includes a dropping mechanism for dropping onto the bottom wall any surplus solid preparations stacked on the solid preparations being aligned and conveyed in a single layer by the first conveying section.

[0008] In this alignment and conveying device, it is preferable that the dropping mechanism includes a guide section arranged above the first conveying section so that solid preparations conveyed in a single layer pass through while the surplus solid preparations abut against and are guided to the bottom wall.

[0009] The guide portion is preferably formed in a planar shape along a vertical plane and inclined inward with respect to a tangential direction of the first transport portion. [Effects of the Invention]

[0010] According to the aligning and conveying device of the present invention, it is possible to provide an aligning and conveying device that can reliably prevent a decrease in conveying efficiency. [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0011] [Figure 1] 1 is a plan view of an aligning and conveying device according to an embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 2] 2 is a cross-sectional view of the aligning and conveying device shown in FIG. 1 along the line AA. [Figure 3] 2 is a plan view of a main part for explaining the operation of the aligning and conveying device shown in FIG. 1. FIG. [Figure 4] FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view of a main part corresponding to FIG. 3. [Figure 5] FIG. 10 is a plan view illustrating the operation of a conventional aligning and conveying device. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0012] An aligning and conveying device according to an embodiment of the present invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Fig. 1 is a plan view of an aligning and conveying device according to an embodiment of the present invention; and Fig. 2 is a cross-sectional view of the aligning and conveying device shown in Fig. 1 taken along line AA.

[0013] The aligning and conveying device 1 of this embodiment is an apparatus that can align and convey solid preparations P and supply them in an aligned state to an inspection device, a marking device, etc., similar to the aligning and conveying device 100 shown in Fig. 5, and is configured by adding a dropping mechanism 40 to the conventional aligning and conveying device 100 shown in Fig. 5. Examples of the solid preparations P include tablets and capsules.

[0014] 1 and 2, the aligning and conveying device 1 includes a rotating disk 10 having a disk-shaped bottom wall 11 and supported rotatably about a rotation axis 10X of the bottom wall 11, a first ring 20 having a first peripheral wall 21 surrounding the bottom wall 11 and supported rotatably about the rotation axis 20X of the first peripheral wall 21, a second ring 30 having a second peripheral wall 31 surrounding the first peripheral wall 21 and supported rotatably about a rotation axis 30X of the second peripheral wall 31, and drive units 15, 25, and 35 that independently drive and rotate the rotating disk 10, the first ring 20, and the second ring 30 about their respective rotation axes 10X, 20X, and 30X. In this embodiment, the rotation axes 10X and 30X are arranged to coincide with each other.

[0015] A first conveying section 91 and a second conveying section 92 are provided on the upper portions of the first ring 20 and the second ring 30, respectively, for conveying the solid preparations P in a circumferentially aligned state. The first conveying section 91 is formed from the upper end surface of the cylindrical first circumferential wall 21, the radial outer side of which is covered by the inner wall surface of the second circumferential wall 31, and the radial width of the first circumferential wall 21 is determined so that the solid preparations P are aligned in a line along the circumferential direction. The second conveying section 92 is formed from a cutout portion formed by cutting out the radial inner side of the upper end surface of the cylindrical second circumferential wall 31 in the circumferential direction, and the radial width of the cutout portion is determined so that the solid preparations P are aligned in a line along the circumferential direction, and holds the lower side and the radial outer side of the solid preparations P.

[0016] The rotating disk 10 and the first ring 20 have their bottom wall 11 positioned below the first conveying section 91 so as to form a retention space S inside the first ring 20 that can retain the solid preparations P, and their respective rotation axes 10X, 20X are inclined relative to each other so that, at the first delivery position P1, the bottom wall 11 is at approximately the same height as the first conveying section 91, allowing the solid preparations P to be delivered. The first ring 20 and the second ring 30 have their first conveying section 91 positioned below the second conveying section 92, and their respective rotation axes 20X, 30X are inclined relative to each other so that, at the second delivery position P2, the first conveying section 91 and the second conveying section 92 are at approximately the same height, allowing the solid preparations P to be delivered. The first transfer position P1 and the second transfer position P2 are in a point-symmetric relationship with respect to the rotation axis 10X in a plan view, and the second transfer position P2 is located at a position rotated 180 degrees around the rotation axis 10X from the first transfer position P1.

[0017] As shown in Fig. 2, the rotary disk 10 has a shaft 12 extending vertically downward from the center of the bottom wall 11 along the rotation axis 10X, and the shaft 12 is rotationally driven by a drive unit 15. The first ring 20 has a lower cover 23 covering the lower part of the first circumferential wall 21, and a shaft 22 extending downward from the center of the lower cover 23 along the rotation axis 20X, and the shaft 22 is rotationally driven by a drive unit 25. The shaft 22 is a hollow shaft, and the shaft 12 of the rotary disk 10 is inserted therethrough. The inclination angle of the rotation axis 20X of the first ring 20 with respect to the rotation axis 10X of the bottom wall 11 is, for example, 1 to 20°.

[0018] The second ring 30 includes a lower cover 33 that covers the lower part of the second peripheral wall 31, and a shaft 32 that extends vertically downward from the center of the lower cover 33 along a rotation axis 30X, and the shaft 32 is rotationally driven by a drive unit 35. The shaft 32 is a hollow shaft, and the shaft 22 of the first ring 20 is inserted therein. The rotation axis 30X of the second ring 30 coincides with the rotation axis 10X of the wall 11.

[0019] The driving devices 15, 25, 35 are, for example, electric motors, and rotate the rotating disk 10, the first ring 20, and the second ring 30 in the same direction. In this embodiment, the rotation speed of the first ring 20 is set to be faster than the rotation speed of the rotating disk 10 and slower than the rotation speed of the second ring 30.

[0020] As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the aligning and conveying device 1 further includes a suction roller 50 that vacuum-sucks the solid preparations P conveyed by the second conveying unit 92 onto its outer peripheral surface and rotates to convey the solid preparations P. The suction roller 50 is disposed so that its outer peripheral surface faces the second conveying unit 92 from above at the third transfer position P3, and is driven to rotate by a suction roller drive unit 55. A groove 53 is formed in the outer peripheral surface of the suction roller 50 along the circumferential direction, and a number of suction ports 51a are formed at the bottom of the groove 53 over the entire circumferential direction. As shown in FIG. 2, the rotation shaft 50X is slightly inclined toward the bottom wall 11 with respect to the horizontal direction H so that the outer peripheral surface of the suction roller 50 faces radially outward from the second conveying unit 92 at the third transfer position P3, thereby ensuring reliable suction of the solid preparations P. In order to reliably align the solid preparations P conveyed by the second conveying unit 92 and obtain a stable posture, the second delivery position P2 to the third delivery position P3 are spaced apart by at least half a circumference along the circumferential direction of the second ring 30. The rotation speed of the suction roller 50 is preferably set to be faster than the rotation speed of the second ring 20.

[0021] 1, a cover 60 is fixedly installed above the second conveying part 92, covering the upstream side of the suction roller 50 in the rotation direction of the second ring 30. The cover 60 is disposed so as to protrude directly above the second conveying part 92 from the outside to the inside in the radial direction of the second ring 30, and is configured so that the protrusion width directly above the second conveying part 92 gradually increases along the rotation direction of the second ring 30. With this configuration, solid articles P conveyed by the second conveying part 92 in an improper position move radially inward along the edge of the cover 60 and return to the bottom wall 11, so that only solid articles P in a proper position can be reliably conveyed.

[0022] 1, the dropping mechanism 40 is formed in a block shape, is supported on the outside of the second ring 30, and is arranged so as to cover the top of the first conveying section 91 and the second conveying section 92. As will be described later, the dropping mechanism 40 releases the stacked state of the solid preparations P in the first conveying section 91, and includes a guide section 41 arranged directly above the first conveying section 91.

[0023] Next, the operation of the above-mentioned aligning and conveying device 1 will be described. Solid preparations P introduced from a hopper (not shown) or the like into the holding space S formed by the rotary disk 10 and the first ring 20 are subjected to centrifugal force due to the rotation of the rotary disk 10, and move radially outward from the bottom wall 11, and are then moved in an aligned state from the first transfer position P1 to the first conveying section 91. When the solid preparations P conveyed by the first conveying section 91 reach the second transfer position P2, they are subjected to centrifugal force due to the rotation of the first ring 20, and are moved from the first conveying section 91 to the second conveying section 92. When the solid preparations P conveyed by the second conveying section 92 reach the third transfer position P3, they are attracted by the suction roller 50 and conveyed upward. In this manner, the solid preparations P are aligned and conveyed.

[0024] The solid preparations P conveyed by the first conveying section 91 are usually arranged in a single row and a single layer without any gaps, but when a plurality of solid preparations P are simultaneously supplied from the rotary disc 10 to the first conveying section 91 at the first delivery position P1, other solid preparations P may be stacked on top of the solid preparations P being aligned and conveyed in a single layer by the first conveying section 91. In the following description, solid preparations P stacked in the second or higher layer are referred to as surplus solid preparations to distinguish them from solid preparations P conveyed in a single layer (first layer).

[0025] Fig. 3 is a plan view of the main part for explaining the operation of the aligning and conveying device 1 shown in Fig. 1, and (a) to (c) show the state changes in the vicinity of the drop mechanism 40 that accompany conveyance by the first conveying section 91. Fig. 4 is a cross-sectional view of the main part near the drop mechanism 40 as seen from the downstream side in the conveying direction, and Figs. 4(a) to (c) correspond to Figs. 3(a) to (c), respectively.

[0026] 3(a) and 4(a), the guide part 41 of the dropping mechanism 40 is formed in a planar shape along a vertical plane, and the tip side in the conveying direction (arrow direction) in plan view is inclined inward (toward the bottom wall 11) with respect to the tangential direction of the first conveying part 91. The height position of the guide part 41 relative to the first conveying part 91 is set so that the solid preparations P conveyed in a single layer by the first conveying part 91 pass through without coming into contact with the guide part 41.

[0027] As shown in Figures 3(b) and 4(b), when surplus solid preparations P' are stacked on top of the solid preparations P aligned in a single layer and transported, the guide section 41 comes into contact with the surplus solid preparations P' and guides the surplus solid preparations P' to fall onto the bottom wall 11, as shown in Figures 3(c) and 4(c). The inward tilt angle θ of the guide section 41 with respect to the tangential direction T of the first transport section 91 is preferably an angle that can reliably guide the surplus solid preparations P' to the bottom wall 11, and is set to approximately 45 degrees in this embodiment.

[0028] In this way, by removing the excess solid preparations P' from the first conveying section 91 and reliably maintaining the solid preparations P aligned in a single layer, it is possible to reliably prevent the solid preparations P from falling together when moving from the first conveying section 91 to the second conveying section 92. As a result, there is no risk of gaps being formed in the row of solid preparations P conveyed by the second conveying section 92, and a decrease in conveying efficiency can be reliably prevented. Note that when the excess solid preparations P' abutting against the guide section 41 fall onto the bottom wall 11, there is a risk that the solid preparations P below them will also fall at the same time. However, even if gaps are formed in the row of solid preparations P in the first conveying section 91 in such a situation, these gaps are eliminated in the process of aligning the positions of the solid preparations P during conveyance by the first conveying section 91, and therefore, gaps are prevented from being formed in the row of solid preparations P in the second conveying section 92.

[0029] The material of the guide portion 41 is not particularly limited, but is preferably a soft material such as synthetic resin, rubber, sponge, or the like, in order to prevent damage to the surplus solid preparations P' being conveyed when they come into contact with the guide portion 41. The guide portion 41 may be formed of a flexible plate-like or sheet-like member, and may be configured to guide the surplus solid preparations P' to the bottom wall 11 while bending and deforming when it comes into contact with the surplus solid preparations P'. The surface shape of the guide portion 41 is not limited to a flat shape, and may be a curved surface, such as an arc-like shape in a plan view, with a bulging central portion.

[0030] The dropping mechanism 40 may be any other mechanism capable of selectively dropping only the excess solid preparations P' conveyed by the first conveying section 91 onto the bottom wall 11, such as a configuration having a pusher that can move back and forth radially, or an air injection mechanism. [Explanation of symbols]

[0031] 1 Alignment and conveyance device 10 rotating discs 10X Rotation Axis 11 Bottom wall 20 First Ring 20X Rotation Axis 21 1st peripheral wall 30 Second Ring 30X Rotation Axis 31 Second peripheral wall 35 Drive unit 40 Falling mechanism 41 Guide section 50 Suction Roller 91 First conveyor section 92 Second conveying section P Solid dosage forms P' Excess solid dosage form P1 First delivery position P2 Second delivery position P3 3rd delivery position S holding space

Claims

1. a rotating disk having a disk-shaped bottom wall and supported rotatably; a first ring having a first peripheral wall surrounding the bottom wall and rotatably supported; a second ring having a second peripheral wall surrounding the first peripheral wall and rotatably supported; a driving means for independently driving the rotary disk, the first ring, and the second ring to rotate about their respective rotation axes; a first conveying section and a second conveying section are provided on the upper portions of the first peripheral wall and the second peripheral wall, respectively; the rotary disk and the first ring have their rotation axes inclined relative to one another so that the bottom wall is positioned lower than the first conveying section to form a storage space for the solid preparation inside the first ring, and the solid preparation moves from the bottom wall to the first conveying section at the first delivery position; the first ring and the second ring have their rotation axes inclined relative to each other so that the first conveying unit is located lower than the second conveying unit and the solid preparations are moved from the first conveying unit to the second conveying unit at a second delivery position, The aligning and conveying device further includes a dropping mechanism for dropping onto the bottom wall any excess solid preparations stacked on the solid preparations aligned and conveyed in a single layer by the first conveying section.

2. The alignment and conveying device according to claim 1, wherein the dropping mechanism includes a guide section arranged above the first conveying section so that solid preparations conveyed in a single layer pass through while the excess solid preparations abut against and are guided to the bottom wall.

3. The aligning and conveying device according to claim 2 , wherein the guide portion is formed in a planar shape along a vertical plane and inclined inward with respect to a tangential direction of the first conveying portion.

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